Account of the Berlin Botanic Garden. -295 



Art. II. A Historical and Descriptive Account oftJie Botanic Gar- 

 den at Berlin, accompanied by a Plan of the Garden, a List of the 

 Ferns cidtivated in it, and a general Account of the Trees contained 

 in the Arboretum. By Mr. W. D. Brackenridge, late Head 

 Gardener to Dr. Neill, at Canonmills Cottage, near Edinburgh, 

 and now in the Berlin Botanic Garden. 



5 i. History. 



The Royal Botanic Garden at Berlin lies about a mile from the town, 

 on the great Potsdam road, at the end of the village of New Schoneberg. The 

 locality is certainly anything but well adapted for such an establishment, from 

 the low-lying marshy nature of the soil, and the total want of shelter. It is 

 bounded on the east by the turnpike road ; having on the south the village, 

 and on the west and north sandy fields. It has a surface of about twenty-seven 

 German acres, surrounded by a wall 9 ft. high. But, before entering into par- 

 ticulars respecting the present state of the garden, the rich collection of plants 

 it contains, and the scientific manner it is conducted in, I presume it may not 

 prove altogether uninteresting to some of your readers, to have laid before 

 them a short account of the origin of the estabhshment, and its progress, under 

 its different sovereigns and directors, up to the present day. 



About the middle of the seventeenth century, it was afield, surrounded by a 

 wooden fence, where hops were cultivated for the royal brewery. After the 

 termination of the war in 1679, Frederick William, the great Elector of 

 Brandenburgh, and the last who bore that title, a lover of gardening and 

 botany, had it converted into a garden for the cultivation of exotic trees and 

 ornamental plants, appropriating, at the same time, a part for the raising of 

 vegetables of the more uncommon kinds for the kitchen. One Michelman, a 

 native of Holstein, was appointed gardener; and the ambassadors at the dif- 

 ferent courts of Europe, who seem to have had the interests of the garden no 

 less at heart than their royal master, sent home plants and seeds for orna- 

 menting it. Fredei'ick, the first king of Prussia, who used to spend much of 

 his time in this garden with his sisters, at his own private expense sent the son 

 of the gardener, Michelman, a journey through France, Holland, and England ; 

 and, on his return, appointed him successor to his father. The kitchen-garden 

 he caused to be turned into a pleasure-garden for the court, and commenced 

 erecting forcing and green-houses. These houses were not expressly for the 

 cultivation of plants belonging to the garden, but also for the protection, during 

 winter, of those used for decorating the royal palaces in summer. At this time, 

 the garden contained many interesting plants; as Dracas^na Draco, iaurus 

 Cdmphora L. [Cinnamomum R. Br. Cdmphora Svvt.], Chamai'rops humilis, 

 Royena lilicida, Pistacia Terebinthus, &c. 



By the liberality and perseverance of Dr. Gundelsheimer, physician in or- 

 dinary to His Majesty, who accompanied Tournefort on his travels, many 

 valuable additions were made. At his own expense, he introduced seeds, and 

 greatly enriched the collection with the many rarities he received from Tourne- 

 fort, till a premature death deprived the garden of his valuable services. 



Frederick William I., not possessing so great a taste for gardening as his pre- 

 decessors, made a present of the botanic garden to the Royal Society of Berlin ; 

 who, not being provided with means necessary to meet the outlay, gave orders 

 that only medicinal plants should be cultivated in it, for the royal apothecarj'. 

 Under such circumstances, the gardener, Michelman, was scarcely able to pre- 

 serve from ruin that which it had cost so much expense and trouble to collect, 

 far less to make any additions. About this time, Ludolff, the first professor 

 of botany here, drew up a catalogue of the plants, showing, at the same time 

 the state of the establishment. He, with the assistance of Michelman, in- 

 creased the collection as far as was practicable, without incurring expense. 



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